Latest IMF study on UK now out

  • BOE should keep rates steady until stronger inflationary pressures emerge
  • UK house price growth high, some home buyers vulnerable to interest rate or income shocks
  • BOE may need to tighten mortgage lending caps further
  • while the UK continues to benefit from record low interest rates, maintaining deficits and debts at these levels would constrain the space to respond proactively to future large negative growth shocks.
  • uncertainty associated with the outcome of the planned referendum on EU membership could weigh on the outlook.

Overall the report is upbeat and UK fin min has been quick to hail it as

" The strongest assessment by the IMF in the 5 years I've been doing this job"

This jury's still very much out George

Pound unchanged at the moment